U.S. Ambassador To Australia Takes On #1 Issue Of The Day: Game Of Thrones Piracy
from the yeah!-wait,-what? dept
Cultural hit that it is, I suppose it's not surprising that we've talked several times about the HBO series Game Of Thrones, including its status as the most pirated show on television. I can't speak to the merits of the show, having given it up after the first episode, but it was encouraging to hear HBO talk about how wider distribution options could be used to combat piracy, even if their implementation was somewhat lacking. To the shock of no one, of course, these changes haven't immediately eradicated piracy of the show's episodes. To no one that is except the American ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich, who is apparently willing to throw his official weight around in favor of this one particular show.
See, it was on Bleich's Facebook page, the one that identifies him as Ambassador Bleich, where he posted a rant entitled "Stopping the Game of Clones."
"As the Ambassador here in Australia, it was especially troubling to find out that Australian fans were some of the worst offenders with among the highest piracy rates of Game of Thrones in the world," wrote Ambassador Bleich. "While some people here used to claim that they used pirate sites only because of a delay in getting new episodes here, the show is now available from legitimate sources within hours of its broadcast in the United States."Er, okay. Perhaps I'm in the minority here, but the post would have seemed ho-hum had he not decided to come out so strongly in favor of one particular show. This isn't a screed against piracy in general, but against piracy of GoT in particular. Seems kind of strange, especially when he then explained how he understood why it was pirated in the first place.
"I realize that fans of Game of Thrones who have used illegal file-sharing sites have reasons," continued Ambassador Bleich. "They will say it was much easier to access through these sites, or that they got frustrated by the delay in the first season, or their parents wouldn't pay for a subscription, or they will complain about some other issue with copyright laws." Continuing, he added, "But none of those reasons is an excuse—stealing is stealing."That's true, stealing is stealing. And infringement is infringement, and strawberry yogurt is strawberry yogurt. Unfortunately, stealing isn't infringement, and an American ambassador purporting to speak to Australians on our behalf should really know the difference. Add to that a misunderstanding, apparently, of how fans of the show who were initially spurned with delayed, inefficient, or non-existent legitimate ways to get the content aren't going to give up the better methods they found for consumption now that HBO is kinda-sorta providing them with slightly less delayed, slightly more efficient, slightly more existing methods and we have the full-blown makings of a confused diatribe by a public official over a single cable network show. Kotaku sums things up nicely.
This is swell and all, but doesn't he have more important things to worry about than Australians pirating Game of Thrones? He is a U.S. Ambassador. Like, a real one, nominated by the President of the United States. And he's talking about Game of Thrones on the internet. Your tax dollars at work!Or not at work, as the case may be.
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Filed Under: australia, game of thrones
Companies: hbo
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He forgot to say that he's part of a Govt that's heavily lobbied by corporations to act on their behalf. Makes things more understandable right?
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Screw The MAFIAA ! Boycott them from your Wallet.
Save your money to Purchase Non-MAFIAA Art and Non-MAFIAA Local Artists.
Ambassador Bleich is a stooge politician for the Corporations.We do not care what you say.........Your word does not matter to us.
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With comments like this, I'm surprised PETA hasn't attacked this site. Don't you care about your dog at all? Think about what diseases your dog could catch from that!
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If the Ambassador had spent any time of Techdirt he'd know what a self-serving lie this claim is. It's about free first. Convenience is way down the line.
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My paid Spotify subscription says different. I could easily get all the music for free, yet I'm paying $120 a year for the convenience.
I'm waiting and hoping for a video service just as good, and willing to pay for it.
In other words: Shut up and take my money.
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I'd draw the line at paying him to shut up though.
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When people would rather live without piratable content than pay the current prices, it is just infuriating with no end for the content industry. When they start to accept that 1 pirated product is not equal to even a half lost sale on average, it is a sign that they have reached reality. Unfortunately, that is not even close to true yet given their extensive waste of money on lobbying politicians.
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I wouldn't mind paying a reasonable price to get the same level of convenience I get from downloading TV shows (my shows download automatically as soon as they air and sit on my drive until I'm ready to watch them in full with no streaming delays, and without commercials or DRM.)
The only similar 'legitimate' service currently is the iTunes store which costs the same amount as if I were to purchase the entire set of DVDs. Bearing in mind that the DVDs and the cases cost money and the shipping and distributing and importing costs for the DVDs cost money - I really would expect digital distribution to cost much less.
So yes, currently piracy is more convenient, has better customer service (scary, right?), and is cheaper than 'legitimate' alternatives. That's a HUGE market indicator that the industry is doing it wrong.
The music industry seems to be starting to get it by charging 99 cents per song - TV shows have to give in soon too.
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You don't understand all the overhead involved in digital distribution. For each purchase, they need to press the legitimate material onto the DVDs, pack the DVDs, print the covers for the cases, ship them from the distribution center to Australia (going through customs and import fees), then they have to pay someone to unpack the DVDs, transfer them to a Region 1 computer, pay fees to use the licensed "Region Conversion" software to transfer it to a Region 4 computer, and upload the file to a system calibrated to accept AUD for payment. And THEN you can download the copy.
Those fixed costs cost money.
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Can't decide if the fact that it was confused for a serious statement reflects poorly on IP practices, Techdirt trolls, the Techdirt community, or some combination thereof.
The overall point remains that iTunes pricing is inexcusable.
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If that it what they're doing, they're idiots and are doing things in the least efficient way possible. Why not use the original digital masters, which don't have MP4 encoding applied to them, let alone the region coding - which is only there to block legitimate purchases in the first place. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, they can simply ask iTunes to use the same file for US and Australia if they wish, as long as there's no local issues with censorship requiring a different copy.
I suspect, though, that you simply have no idea what you're blabbering about.
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Used CDs and Vinyl
Used books
Really they piss and moan about anything used
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We need a simple, sane, rational solution
> simultaneously from the same TV. [. . . . ]
> Nobody dares to call them "thieves" for fear of looking ridiculous.
All things in good time. Passage of the DMCA was a long time ago. It was an outrageous travesty then. Now it is regarded as sane and normal compared to what they now want; which is a gigantic, private, off switch for the internet or the ability to selectively take down anything they don't like without any kind of due process, judicial review, accountability, recourse or appeal. They're surprisingly close to getting it.
Don't worry. In time, it won't look ridiculous to call people who watch TV together thieves. All we need is a camera device on top of the TV that identifies the viewers in the room and checks with the licensing server to ensure all viewers are licensed to watch. It won't even sound that crazy after awhile. Think of the other good and wonderful things that would flow from this. The ability for private industry to be sure that nothing bad is happening in your home -- to protect you. What could be better than that?
After that, I suppose, they'll demand that Google should create for them a way to create artificial scarcity so that audio files are like bitcoins -- but traceable. Maybe also Google should be compelled to create a time machine to turn back the clock. (Please don't jump in here with any science mumbo jumbo. Just build the damn thing.) Oh, and brain implants at birth that automatically charge your account whenever you hear or see anything copyrighted. Oh, and they think the consumers should bear the cost of all this -- after all, the consumers are the thieves that created the great need for these simple fixes.
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Re: We need a simple, sane, rational solution
Microsoft is already most of the way there with Kinect and some of the not-yet-implemented Kinect-related patents that they've already been granted.
Did you know that the next Xbox won't even turn on unless the Kinect unit is on, plugged in, and calibrated?
Did you know that Microsoft has already applied for a patent for having Kinect monitor the number of people watching the TV screen in order to prompt people to pay additional licensing fees if there are more people in the room watching?
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-11/07/microsoft-patent-snooping
Still interested in buying a next-gen Xbox?
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Acting on bad information?
In fact the most recent episode I'm allowed to buy is from June of last year and is already available on DVD.
Frankly this is not good enough.
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I don't have a TIVO.
I have DirecTv and use a dvd recorder (that replaced my VCR for thet purpose, though I still use the VCR to watch stuff unavailable on DVD), so I make my own DVDs that I loan out to friends who don't have HBO.
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People in developed nations (never mind undeveloped) using food banks to feed their families.
Individual freedoms and privacy being eroded a little more every day.
Overpopulation of the world.
Resources becoming more and more scarce.
Corporate and individual tax avoidance rife everywhere.
And this moron is focusing on piracy of one TV show? Take your head out of your arse and tackle the real issues facing the world.
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infact, many of them think your only poor if your lazy....
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The biggest shock
WTH Tim?
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Like most literary properties adapted to tv/movies, there are some changes.
Some are minor (like Harry Potter)
Some are major (Like James Bond)
Some are half-and-half (like Walking Dead)
The changes in Game of Thrones are midway between minor and half-and-half.
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I fail to see how one throwaway line completely unrelated to the main topic of the article makes any difference at all.
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Besides, why doesn't his opinion on the show have any place? I suspect the AC troll brigade would instantly attack him as just being a fanboy whining if he didn't mention his opinion of the show first.
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Legitimate Sources
Would this be the same "sources" that actually paid every other legitimate source to remove it, so they could have exclusivity, thus making the legitimate market... smaller?
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killing is good business
I'm really afraid my country has a dead-ender, apocolyptic mentality, and the head rats are going to make sure they fill their pockets before the end.
The fact that while everyone was watching coverage of the drama in Boston last few weeks, Congress decided to repeal the law that makes it illegal for lawmakers to engage in insider trading on the bills that are about to be passed is a good example of our elite trying to "get while the getting's good". At the same time that Fed policy is goosing the stock market so those trades are more lucrative.
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Let's see, denial is first, right?
This must be bargaining...
We have a ways to go.
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Quote:
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/04/ambassador-game-thrones-piracy/
What would Salladhor Saan do?
Pirate of course, most of those fictional characters would pirate the darn thing.
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It doesn't look good when all you have are stories to tell and nothing else to show for.
Oh by the way, China is gearing up to shove and push on the intellectual front, Apple just got punished for allowing pirates to get Chinese authors books uploaded by users on their Apple Store.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/26/apple_loses_copyright_case_china_again/
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Politicians and media
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P2P filer lockers are the next best thing.
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Goddamnit, they were the #1 most pirated show and now their piracy throne has been usurped by a bunch of medieval yahoos who wouldn't know a Veyron from a Huayra!
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Australia = Piracy
The bottom line is HBO is only interested in getting people to sign up for HBO, so the only place you can watch it is HBO. Although HBO could probably make a lot of money charging for access to the show, it makes a whole lot MORE money by signing up subscribers. So that creates a scarcity condition that makes it ripe for "sharing." But whether HBO is actually losing money from piracy is another issue. I'm sure most of the people watching the show for free either don't have enough money to subscribe to HBO, would watch it at a friend's house, or wouldn't subscribe anyway for various reasons. HBO will still make plenty of money on BluRay and DVD sales and eventual syndication sales.
But the ultimate issue is control. It's "our" show and you have to watch the way "we" tell you to. I think there has to be some kind of balance there. But some entities don't see it that way.
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Ultimately the copy they wish to control and charge for is the one a brain makes consuming their content, and the control includes when it is consumed.
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Most pirated-show to date.
It should be noted though that there are two types of infringement, a civil and a criminal version. I think the arguments trying to equate the criminal version with stealing, but it still fails because even then it's still two different crimes.
Oh, and this just makes the Ambassador look like more of a fool:
[Quote courtesy of the TF article on the same topic]
Yeah, sounds like the ambassador apparently didn't do any independent research to me.
How will this affect Aussie-US relations?
The Zen Master says, "We'll see."
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I guess it would be okay for drugs, illegal weapons or terrorists to enter the country as long as we can stop that copy of Game of Thrones from getting in.
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I take bribes
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Uh...
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http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2013/05/tpp-the-biggest-global-threat-to-the-internet-since-acta/
cheers
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